Thanks, Mr. Yardmaster.  I don't have a different controller, but your suggestion gave me the idea (why couldn't I think of it?) to try a different loco.  I tried an Atlas loco with a Quantum Titan decoder and got the same result.  The loco will not move as loco #6.  No doubt -- it's the controller.

I have a CP Jupiter 4-4-0 (new tooling) and I'm running it with a MRC Tech 6 controller with the walkaround controller.  I can program the Jupiter as loco 1-5 and it goes forward and reverse and buttons 0-3 all work, but if I program it as loco 6 it will not move.  it sits on the track making steam idling noises, and buttons 0-3 all work.  Forward and reverse do not work -- it can't move.

After programming Jupiter as loco 6 I hit button 0.  I got a short blast from the whistle and the light came on, and the idling noises got much louder.  Just another strange thing.  Then I made it loco 3 and all was normal.

My UP 119 4-4-0 (new tooling) is the same.  As loco 6 it can't move. I don't know if the trouble is in the loco or in the controller.  Talking to MRC is not so easy, so I'm starting here.  Any ideas?

Back on June 6 in a new 4-4-0 thread that I started, bbmiroku had comments about the cowcatchers on the old 4-4-0s, and the possibility of going up and over an obstruction.  This link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KBaQ41TMaU

tells the tragic story of two 4-4-0s that went partly up and over in a different way.

BTW, in a picture book about the Green Bay and Western and also the Ahnapee and Western, I have seen a lot of pictures of 4-4-0s in the late 1800s or early 1900s that have knuckle style couplers cut into the pilot on the front end of the loco.  They look just like the new Bachmann 4-4-0s that I was so unhappy about a few months ago when I first received mine.  Well, slowly, I'm learning about the evolution of the 4-4-0.

I'm wondering if there is any reason why I should not remove the traction tires from the drivers on my new 4-4-0.  I think that there would be enough traction without them and without the tires I could get the wheels really clean, and the wipers on those drivers might pick up some electricity.

Hi hminky,

Your new electric pickups for the new 4-4-0s are elegant and I marvel at the concept and the execution.  I'm blown away.  Sometime, soon I hope, I will find out if my 90-year-old fingers are up to duplicating on my 4-4-0s what you have done on yours.  Not only the concept and the execution, but the write-up with pictures and your step-by-step guide could not be better.  Thank you for sharing that with all of us.

Hi TrainMan2001,

If you google > HO scale link and pin couplers < you will find several sources.

Hobbylink part # 6002 is a pair of link and pin made by Alexander Scale.  They are also available from
Walthers, part number 120-6002.

In the pictures, it look like they work.  I have never owned any.

Hello everyone,

I have another thread going that started out to be about the electrical wipers on the tender axles in the new 4-4-0s.  In that thread I said, "When my locos first arrived, I was complaining about the details, and the trouble was I was fixated on the replicas at the Golden Spike site while Bachmann was trying to make some beautiful models of many different 4-4-0s.  Well, Bachmann succeeded, and I love my Jupiter and 119.  I think the sound is better than the sound that I heard in the video (which may have been distorted in the process.)  In the Bachmann locos, the bell has a pure, clean ring to it, the whistle sounds like steam, especially the way it turns off, and the chuff makes me think that there is a real one just outside my window."

Just so you know.

Hunt, thanks for the info on the tender pin connector to the loco.  I separated the tender by prying under the ends of the connector, a little at a time.  Then it was a lot easier to clean all the wheels.

The video gave me some ideas about changes to the locos.  When my locos first arrived, I was complaining about the details, and the trouble was I was fixated on the replicas at the Golden Spike site while Bachmann was trying to make some beautiful models of many different 4-4-0s.  Well, Bachmann succeeded, and I love my Jupiter and 119.  I think the sound is better than the sound that I heard in the video (which may have been distorted in the process.)  In the Bachmann locos, the bell has a pure, clean ring to it, the whistle sounds like steam, especially the way it turns off, and the chuff makes me think that there is a real one just outside my window.

Ideas from the video:  Sometime I will get some real wood into the tender behind my Jupiter.  I may try to replace the wood in the 119 with coal, although someone in my older thread said that in one of the historic 1869 photos it appears that there is wood sticking out of 119's tender.  I will look for a pilot like the ones on the replicas, and I have seen that I can get link and pin couplers for the tenders.  I do want to look into a current keeper, or keep alive capacitor, because I want to show my working diorama to my kids and stalling would not be much fun.

Hello everyone.  Thanks for all the comments, history, photos and more.

I just spent an hour putting together a post on what has been happening with me and trying to get the link from photobucket for a photo of my proposed working diorama layout (I couldn't copy the link).  When I was ready to post, I clicked on Review and the forum said, "Welcome guest".  All I had typed in is gone.  Talk to you later.

Thanks for your info, Hunt.  I saw the wipers on the exploded view, and I have already done some work on mine, but in the exploded view there are no wires connected to the wipers.

My tender is exactly like yours, so thanks for showing me that the wires do indeed go into a plug.  Now I can separate the tender from the loco without worrying about breaking something.

Hi Mr. Bach Man,

I have a new 4-4-0 Jupiter.  It has stalling problems.  I found that the wipers on the rear axle of the front pair were bent far away from the axle, and on one of the front pair two of the three were bent away.  I straightened them and ran the loco again but it still stalls here and there on just plain track.  I will work on it.

But, here is my first question:
While I was straightening the worst of the bent wipers, the square plate that holds the wiper assembly on the truck came off.  I could put it back on and it would stay, but any pressure on a wiper would take it off again.  I'm thinking that the "snap on" feature of the plate is worn out, holes too big or whatever.  The part number for this plate is 00P05.  I would like to get a few new plates but they do not show up in a search for 00P05.  Even a new truck (00N01) does not show up in a search for that part.  So, is there a source for these plates?

Second question:
There is no electrical diagram for the new 4-4-0 locos.  It looks to me as though all the electrical pickups for the loco are in the tender.  It looks like wires from the tender are attached to a plug that plugs into the rear of the loco to power the motor and light.  Is that right?  It would be very helpful to separate the tender from the loco when I'm working on one of them so I hope it is a plug..

Thanks for your help.

Thanks -- I will look into that --

Well, I found out that I can't upload a drawing.  The file has to have a photo extension.  Maybe I will take a photo of my drawing.

I'm still learning about the 4-4-0 replicas.  Pictures of the pilots of the locos show a hinged bar that is attached to the top center of the pilot and the other end rests on the bottom frame.  The outer end has a slot that I suppose could accept a pin.

Someday I will try to modify my Bachmann versions accordingly.  I wonder what the paint colors are -- well, I'm a long way from that problem.

I would post the plan of my golden spike layout but I don't know how to paste in anything.  I can get it into my clipboard but I can't paste it, at least Ctrl-V will not do it.

Trainman 203:  I would like to replace the tender coupler with link and pin, just for the fun of seeing it there.  I don't know if my Jupiter and 119 will ever pull rolling stock, but you never know.  I bought them to be the main interest on a small portable layout that will be a much compressed version of the Golden Spike National Historic Site.  Using Atlas code 83, the wye will occupy a 4' by 3' main section of Homasote, and there will be three 1' wide extensions for the place where (1) 119 waits for the reenactment to start, just a short section of straight, (2) the place where Jupiter waits and the golden spike site, and (3) the double track inside an engine house and another small building to hold the reverser.  Overall, about 9' by 5', so it could be set up on a ping pong table.  And, in pieces, it will fit in the backseat of my car so I can take it to set up at three of my four kids' houses.  The fourth of my kids is 2000 miles away, too far to drive by myself.  Hoping to start next week.

I could remove the front coupler itself, but I don't know if I'm up to replacing the coupler box with spokes and getting the right color of paint.  I will find out.

bbmiroku:  Let's not go up and over!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the comments and history.

I take back my description of the front couplers on the Jupiter and 119 as ridiculous.  It might well be that the real locos had front couplers at some time during their lives.  I still think that although these couplers must be fully operational, they are ugly on these locos

On the Bachmann Jupiter and 119 tenders, at the rear, there is a molded-on cover for a port for taking on water.

I was using "eastern" for "where there is no wood."  I don't think that Omaha would be considered eastern by an Easterner.

My pictures of the replica 119, taken from ground level, don't show what is loaded into the tender.

Ed